Bg10 games will be totally different. If Iowa fb played 25 games and most were against 2-6 Central Northern State at night during the middle of the week - guess what happens to interest.
Chad Leistikow throws appropriate shade at Carver crowds
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Same for me. I went to quite a few games in the early 90s. Carver was rocking. It's not the building.
I propose Iowa schedules home games at Sioux Falls, Omaha, Des Moines and Davenport every year until the gray hairs die out or quit buying season tickets.
As mentioned by others. Play an early schedule against teams with a pulse, and move the student section. Putting the old farts in their own section so they can stay seated and quit bitching would be a plus.
lol that’s the spirit! Schedule a bunch of games we could lose so the fans can bitch about being in the NIT!!
There’s an art to building a NET ranking that can get this team into the dance and Fran has done that part beautifully.
There’s an art to building a NET ranking that can get this team into the dance and Fran has done that part beautifully.
How so?
You don't think a different fan base would attend game in Iowa City vs. Sioux Falls?
CHA rocked when I was a student in the 90s. Same arena.
100% disagree.
First off,
* That arena only seats 3,250; pretty easy to sell out.
* A Saturday night game, for just 3,250 fans, is rather easy to plan for and make.
When it comes to CHA? We have a fan problem, not a building problem.
Fans make excuses for why they cannot make it to CHA.
Fans did not make excuses before the internet and before 4K TV's. CHA was full and loud.
CHA has plenty of energy and is plenty loud when the fans show up with energy and ready to make some noise.
Iowa wrestling fans laugh at Iowa basketball fans who say CHA does not get loud and is not an intimidating environment. And why do they laugh? Because our basketball fans don't bring it like the wrestling fans do.
Again, as has been debated over and over again, if the students don't show up now, why would you give them the prime seats?
And I think a big reason for lack of attendance right now is our schedule. We are playing a bunch of cupcakes and fans know it.
agreed.
we have a fan problem, not a building problem.
I have said this before; to get students to come, especially for these cupcake games we are playing, get creative. Maybe have Caseys bring in pizzas and feed the students. Give them a voucher for free ice cream. Have your water/soda vendor sponsor a free bottle of water to the students to wash down the pizza. once B1G play begins, you might not have to do this as often.
for the rest of the fans? i am not sure what you can do. seems like most make excuses for why they can't make it. or they'd rather watch at home, on their 4K TV. But this is not the building's fault.
Yep.
At the end of this post is a 7 page thread from almost 3 years ago discussing how loud and crazy CHA gets for wrestling and that it used to be that way for men's basketball.
Again, Iowa wrestling fans mock the Iowa basketball fans. Iowa basketball fans simply don't make it to the games and when they do make it, they don't bring the energy and they don't seem ready to make some noise.
Link to that Jan, 2019 Thread:
It's 100% clear to me that CHA is not the problem after watching the wrestling meet last night
Those of you who like to bash CHA, hear me out. Last night was snowy and not everyone could make it to CHA for the Rutgers at Iowa wrestling meet. The crowd was rather small but CHA was pretty damn loud! Just like at last night's wrestling meet, it's up to the fans to make CHA loud. It's easy...
iowa.forums.rivals.com
But remember.... when are most wrestling meets? TV has made a huge impact to hoops
If Iowa built a smaller new arena, the same posters who bitch about no one attending now would complain about not being able to get a seat. And, ironically, most of these posters don't attend games now.
BAU.
BAU.
First, yes, but that’s really my point. We need to attract an additional fan base we’re missing.
I was a student in the 80’s and the place could rock, it was full of students. But times have changed and what worked 20-30 years ago isn’t working so well today. Competition for entertainment and weird start times keep students and young families away. They go to Kinnick because of the total game day experience that culminates in the stadium. Make Carver the same way, both inside and out. Create an entertainment and hotel district around it so people can eat, go to bars, shop and even spend the night. Make it a destination not just for games, but the whole day or evening. Then put in some suites and a bar area with a viewing deck IN Carver. You’ll lose some seats, but we’re not using them all anyway.
People rave about how loud the fans were back in the 90’s and how fans don’t show up and be loud now because Iowa plays “cupcakes.” What do you think Dr. Tom scheduled? Yep...cupcakes. So that is not a valid excuse.
Haven't been to Carver for a long time, but location does not seem ideal for what you are imagining. Would need something downtown or along the river.
Let’s schedule University of Iowa home games in South Dakota and Nebraska. Yep, that makes a lot of sense.
Let’s schedule University of Iowa home games in South Dakota and Nebraska. Yep, that makes a lot of sense.
Might as well include Illinois too, because there isn’t a place in Davenport to be played that isn’t a HS gym, glorified or otherwise.
I think most of us agree that it isn’t a building problem but rather a fan problem. There are things that should be done to the building, but I’m not going to cover those for the 10th time on this board.
Here’s what I see as the problems with the fanbase. It is mainly all of these points causing a lot of apathy.
1. BTN is scheduling us for 6:00 or 8:00 games at night. 6 is too early for anyone with a job that isn’t as close as CR. 8 is not ideal for anyone that has to get to a job the next morning.
2. The conference has given us what seems like a disproportionate amount of weeknight home games compared to ones on the weekend for B1G opponents.
3. The fan base has built a lot of apathy from so many either bad or underachieving teams over the last two decades. We’ve broken into the top 10 several times only to collapse before the end of the season.
4. No deep runs in the tourney in seemingly forever. Almost 23 years now since our last visit to the 2nd weekend.
5. Haven’t won the conference since Gen Xers we’re still being born.
6. The handling of the Pierre Pierce situation killed a ton of student support for the team. Those students back then should be the roughly middle-aged season ticket holders today, but few are.
7. The blue hairs have supported the team with money and ticket purchases through the years, but they aren’t loud and have the prime seats now. Having a lack of energy down low where there seats are hurts.
8. Students don’t have very good seats, and the athletic department doesn’t do all that much to try to get them to the arena. Plus the arena is a long walk in the winter cold from the nearest dorms on the west side or a long bus ride from the dorms on the east side. All of those combine to kill the student interest in games. A far cry from when we had the largest student section in the country back in 2001-2002(one of the aforementioned collapse seasons).
What we’ve seen with the NIT games is that getting rid of the season ticket holders and replacing them with a first come first served fan base really cranks up the energy and enthusiasm. Problem is that you can’t run an athletic department without season tickets.
Here’s what I see as the problems with the fanbase. It is mainly all of these points causing a lot of apathy.
1. BTN is scheduling us for 6:00 or 8:00 games at night. 6 is too early for anyone with a job that isn’t as close as CR. 8 is not ideal for anyone that has to get to a job the next morning.
2. The conference has given us what seems like a disproportionate amount of weeknight home games compared to ones on the weekend for B1G opponents.
3. The fan base has built a lot of apathy from so many either bad or underachieving teams over the last two decades. We’ve broken into the top 10 several times only to collapse before the end of the season.
4. No deep runs in the tourney in seemingly forever. Almost 23 years now since our last visit to the 2nd weekend.
5. Haven’t won the conference since Gen Xers we’re still being born.
6. The handling of the Pierre Pierce situation killed a ton of student support for the team. Those students back then should be the roughly middle-aged season ticket holders today, but few are.
7. The blue hairs have supported the team with money and ticket purchases through the years, but they aren’t loud and have the prime seats now. Having a lack of energy down low where there seats are hurts.
8. Students don’t have very good seats, and the athletic department doesn’t do all that much to try to get them to the arena. Plus the arena is a long walk in the winter cold from the nearest dorms on the west side or a long bus ride from the dorms on the east side. All of those combine to kill the student interest in games. A far cry from when we had the largest student section in the country back in 2001-2002(one of the aforementioned collapse seasons).
What we’ve seen with the NIT games is that getting rid of the season ticket holders and replacing them with a first come first served fan base really cranks up the energy and enthusiasm. Problem is that you can’t run an athletic department without season tickets.
You prefer Iowa play in front of empty seats in Carver?Let’s schedule University of Iowa home games in South Dakota and Nebraska. Yep, that makes a lot of sense.
The more I think about it, the more I’m really starting to warm up to the idea of Iowa playing 4 or 5 home games a year at Wells Fargo Arena.
I’d fly in for those games.
Agreed, but I don’t see it happening anytime soon. I will say this, the nearby Coralville strip experience has improved 1,000% since when I was there. It wouldn’t be much if a stretch to push it right up to Carver. As I mentioned in another thread, Pinnacle Arena in Lincoln is a prime example of how it should be done.
It's the freaking old cratchety ****s telling people to sit down. And the ****ed up seating arrangement at Carver that leads to this. Period.
As to the blue hairs (or which I am one age-wise not hair color!!), I think it is the price of the good tickets. Maybe take the bottom 10 rows and put in crappy seats or benches and charge much less. The blue hairs that don't cheer much are not going to sit there and with a lower price the real fans that jump up and down could afford it. If I could go to games, I would be jumping and hollering at exciting plays, etc.
The first 15 rows need to be bleacher seats. Even watching it on tv with all the seats full, half of what you see is stairs. If you want to sit in bleacher seats, big donners get to have a back rest, (hey it works for football).
The very worst and most long term damage Alford did to Iowa was break the fans' devotion to the team. I used to schedule my week around Iowa basketball. Nothing has happened since to earn the interest and fan loyalty that existed before Alford arrived.
Crowds were shrinking in the late 90s but the collapse in interest happened over the Alford years, largely due to the drama and a penchant for dislikable players.
Crowds were shrinking in the late 90s but the collapse in interest happened over the Alford years, largely due to the drama and a penchant for dislikable players.
Ok, I guess I don't get your whole create an enviroment with an entertainment and hotel district like Kinnick? Isn't Carver within walking distance of Kinnick? I'm pretty sure I walked from a Saturday morning shirts vs skins practice over to Kinnick, or did they move one of them? Are not the same bars, restaurants and hotels in the same area for both?
Iowa did play games at Wells Fargo up until 3 years ago. The last one had an attendance of 12,236 and that included fans of ISU, Drake, and UNI.
I found tickets hard to get when they were split between 4 schools.
And he's tucked into the corner. But he's right in that for the games he attended, attendance was less than optimal, especially for students, but it was the week before finals. Even the team looks sluggish that week.
There’s plenty of money around here, but a plethora of contributing factors...start times, parking, crappy weather, seating inside the arena,ticket prices( for students), etc.
Cost is a factor for me. I’d rather see a womens game when they have specials on the concession items and a cheap ticket.
I personally think the basketball crowd has a lot of fat cat money type people who tend to show up more for a social reason than support thing. I agree with the NIT post- different crowd more REAL FANS- people who want to be there for the right reasons,
MY 2 cents.
I personally think the basketball crowd has a lot of fat cat money type people who tend to show up more for a social reason than support thing. I agree with the NIT post- different crowd more REAL FANS- people who want to be there for the right reasons,
MY 2 cents.
How arrogant of you! FYI, there’s plenty of money in this area, but a plethora of reasons why attendance is crappy, many of which are being discussed here. Barta could help some things, but either can’t or won’t. others he has little control over, such as parking.
Yep. 2013 NIT game vs Dayton was LOUD. And the Indiana game when they were #1 6 or so years ago was LOUD. Carver can rock it just depends on how many/who attends. I've been to games off and on since 1995.
Reading through this reminds me of an old saying that we all know..."Excuses [for not attending Iowa basketball games] are like assholes...everyone has one and they all stink!"
Northwest Iowa fan is a lot different than the wine and cheese donor fans at carver.
They have had a tournament team 6 of last 8 years that excuse is pathetic.
